Fraternity president testifies against brothers in pledge's death

STROUDSBURG, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania college fraternity president says he and four others charged in a pledge's death during a hazing ritual in the Poconos tried to "cover it all up" when they met weeks later.

Daniel Li is cooperating against four Baruch College fraternity brothers charged with third-degree murder in the beating death of 18-year-old Chun Michael Deng.

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Li testified Monday at a preliminary hearing when a judge ordered all five men held for trial.

Li says the Pi Delta Psi brothers gathered in New York afterward to decide what to tell police and their attorneys.

Defense lawyer Steven Brill, who represents co-defendant Sheldon Wong, says no one initially thought the injuries to Deng were life-threatening.

Brill calls the 2013 death accidental. Other defendants are Charles Lai, Kenny Kwan and Raymond Lam.

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Police say fraternity members blindfolded Deng, forcing him to wear a heavy backpack, and then repeatedly tackled him during the hazing ritual, known as glass ceiling.

Deng fell unconscious and was carried inside the house while fraternity members changed his clothes and did an Internet search of his symptoms, waiting an hour before taking him to the hospital, according to court documents. Deng, who suffered a brain injury, died a day later.

Deng was the last of several pledges to be hazed that weekend. Police have said he was treated more harshly than the other pledges, though they have not said why he was forced to suffer extra abuse.

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